Echinothuriidae
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| File:Fire Urchin Asthenosoma varium.jpg | |
| Fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) | |
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Echinothuriidae is a family of sea urchins in the order Echinothurioida. Due to their soft skeletton most are called "leather urchins", but species in the genus Asthenosoma are also known as "fire urchins" due to their bright colors and painful venomous sting.
Description and characteristics
These sea urchins have a disc-like body, more or less bulging, structured by a flexible test, which is nearly unique among sea urchins. Most species can grow quite big and live in deep seas, though some genera contain shallow species (especially Asthenosoma).[1]
The test is composed of thin and weakly calcified plates, not always continuous. The spines are attached to perforated and non-crenulated tubercles. Spines from the oral face are ending with a hyaline hoof, which allows walking on soft substrate. The jaw (Aristotle's lantern) has 5 aulodont teeth.[2]
This family seems to have appeared at the end of the Cretaceous.[2]
Taxonomy
The World Echinoidea Database recognises the following genera:[3]
- Sub-family Echinothuriinae Thomson, 1872a
- genus Araeosoma Mortensen, 1903b -- 19 current species and 2 fossiles
- genus Asthenosoma Grube, 1868 -- 6 current species and 1 fossile
- genus Calveriosoma Mortensen, 1934 -- 2 species
- genus Hapalosoma Mortensen, 1903b -- 4 species
- Sub-family Hygrosomatinae Smith & Wright, 1990
- genus Hygrosoma Mortensen, 1903b -- 3 species
- Sub-family Sperosomatinae Smith & Wright, 1990
- genus Sperosoma Koehler, 1897 -- 11 species
- genus Tromikosoma Mortensen, 1903 -- 6 species
- genus Retzneiosoma Kroh, 2005 †
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Araeosoma thetidis insitu.tif
Araeosoma thetidis (New Zealand, 188m depth).
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Toxic Leather Sea Urchin - Asthenosoma marisrubri.jpg
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Deep sea Echinothurioid.jpg
Hygrosoma sp. (abyssal species from north Atlantic)
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Sperosoma.jpg
Sperosoma sp. (abyssal species taken in Hawaii)
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Expl0867 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg
Tromikosoma sp. (3000m deep, California).
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Kroh, A. (2015), Echinothuriidae Thomson, 1872, In: Kroh, A. & Mooi, R. (2015) World Echinoidea Database.
